


Acquired Taste

by Laylah



Category: Kamen Rider Amazons (2016)
Genre: Cannibalism, Canon-Typical Violence, Community: tic_tac_woe, Gen, apocalypse au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-18
Packaged: 2018-11-02 06:52:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10939245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laylah/pseuds/Laylah
Summary: His boots crunch on broken glass as he walks up to stand between the Amazon and the woman it's cornered. "Greedy," he says, and the Amazon hisses at him. "You're not the only one who's hungry, you know."





	Acquired Taste

**Author's Note:**

> I got "cannibalism" on my tic_tac_woe apocalypse bingo card. I figured I'd start with the existing cannibals and make it more of an apocalypse. >_>

Jin walks up the empty street, taking his time, doing his best to look more relaxed than he feels. It's a gray morning after a long night of rain, and the damp air makes scents confusing, makes it hard to tell just how alone he really is.

There are still humans left in this town somewhere, though, he'd bet money on that. He's caught just enough traces of the warm, welcoming scent that makes his stomach knot and his mouth flood with saliva. There can't be many of them, this far into the outbreak, this close to where it first started. But they're here. Somewhere.

Then, as he turns a corner, someone in the distance starts to scream. There. That's where the humans are. He hurries.

When he catches up, the Amazon has already transformed, a hulking dark shape with no easily identified animal features. A lot of the contagion ones are like that. Part of Jin still wonders about the mutations that turned a controlled experimental life form into the uncontrollable destruction of human society, but most of him is too busy to put a lot of thought into it.

His boots crunch on broken glass as he walks up to stand between the Amazon and the woman it's cornered. "Greedy," he says, and the Amazon hisses at him. "You're not the only one who's hungry, you know."

The Amazon flexes clawed hands, glaring at him. Jin twists the activation bar on his belt. _Amazon._

The transformation always burns, searing along his nerves, a terrible devouring heat that draws up a feeling of elation at the same time. What the fuck kind of metabolic process produces an endorphin reaction? Someone should fire the guy who designed these things. As his senses clear Jin can hear the human's harsh, hiccuping breaths and the Amazon's low growling. He can smell the rank, putrid sharpness of the Amazon's devouring cells and the raw, sweet temptation of human blood. The world has the flat strange filter over it that always goes with this form, colors muted, movement crisp and clear.

He sinks into a ready stance, reaching out with his good arm to beckon the Amazon closer. (This was easier when he had two whole arms. It was easier when he had a finite number of targets, too. Nothing's as easy as it used to be.)

The Amazon lunges for him. He ducks under the first sweep of its claws and kicks out at a knee, forcing it to jump back in a hurry. He follows, two long steps across pavement and then a foot planted on the Amazon's thigh to boost himself up, the other kicking up to catch it under the chin.

It's never that easy. The Amazon shoves him away before he can manage more than a glancing blow. Jin flips, landing on his feet—barely—in a crouch as the Amazon lashes out with a kick of its own. Jin dives out of the way. Blocking is an iffy proposition with less than two full arms.

He's still better armored than most of these assholes, though, and he has years more practice at this. He throws himself back into the fray, closing the distance between them, and manages to hook his ankle around the Amazon's calf. The blades on his leg find purchase, sink into flesh, and the Amazon howls. It pushes at him, trying to get clear, and he manages to get his fist past its guard, into the soft spot below its ribcage. 

They hit the pavement together, the Amazon baring its fangs in fury. It rolls them over, its weight hot and heavy across Jin's middle. It lunges with its fangs bared, like it would bite, and Jin shoves the stump of his bad arm into its throat. It chokes, jerking to a stop, and he slams the blades on his forearm into its face.

It throws itself off him, hands coming up to protect its face, ichor flying everywhere. Jin rolls up and forward, following, slamming it back down onto the road, and in the back of his head he can still hear _Violent Slash_ when his blades open the Amazon's middle right up and he plunges his hand in to rip out a handful of wet, mutated mess. The Amazon thrashes, coughs up more fluid, and goes still.

Jin sits back on his heels, letting his transformation go. His skin steams gently in the cool, damp air. The body underneath him is shriveling and losing its stable form already. The human has fucked off while he was fighting; about what he'd expect from someone who was able to survive this long in the first place. If he takes a deep enough breath he thinks he can still barely catch her scent on the morning air, but it's hard to be sure with the sharper and more immediate death smells in the way.

He looks down at the handful of dead Amazon he's still holding. It drips black goo between his fingers. After a minute he lifts it up and takes a bite.

It's not very good. The human would have tasted far better, would be what Jin's own Amazon cells are craving—the perfect protein structures, the exact nutrient balance his altered body needs. Amazon flesh is more of an... acquired taste. Jin chews mechanically, swallows, takes another bite. He misses chicken. He misses eggs. He misses having a nice stable home life where chicken and eggs were a possibility. And other things, not just food but—

But nobody gets that life anymore, not with the contagious-strain Amazons everywhere. There's a lot of work to be done if this outbreak is ever going to end. So Jin keeps eating, trying not to think too hard about the taste, until he's managed at last to drive the hunger back and give himself the strength to keep going for another day. It's disgusting, but there it is.

If he's going to kill, he needs to eat.


End file.
